The identity of the Kyrgyz: a historical and social study (Part 2)

Abstract

Identity is determined not by the norms that characterize the culture of a particular period, but by the existence of a community of people who share a common heritage, such as language and history: “… our identities reflect common historical experiences and common cultural codes that provide us as «a people» with stable, unchanging and permanent frames of reference and meaning under the changing distinctions and changes of our true history». Accordingly, we can define the Kyrgyz identity through «a common culture, a common history and a kind of collective real identity shared by all members of the clan». However, the Kyrgyz identity accepts cultural identity as a reality belonging to both the future and the past. In this direction, the Kyrgyz identity is a positioning formed within the framework of historical and cultural discourses. In the light of this information, in this study, we will reveal the historical roots of the Kyrgyz identity.